Archive of Our Own

Mark was getting tired of Donghyuck. He was starting to feel like his roommate was going out of his way to make things difficult for him for the first time in a very long time.

Sure their relationship had always had a bit of animosity. At first, he was sure it was Donghyuck’s fault. Even though he admired the other boy for his wit and humor, he always found himself with the gleaming sharp end of Donghyuck’s wit buried in his side. This, naturally, made him think of Donghyuck as his enemy.

But later, when he’d matured and decided that he needed to sort their differences in order to work together in an efficient way, he’d started putting more of an effort into their relationship. After that, he noticed proudly that their fights occurred less and less often until they only fought about once or twice a day.

For a while, Mark was satisfied with the progress they’d made and didn’t mind the occasional fight, even when Donghyuck frustrated him so much he’d want nothing more than to punch a wall.

But later, being the overachiever that he was, Mark decided there was room for improvement. When he’d confronted Donghyuck about their strange relationship, in hopes that a day would pass when they would not have a single fight, Donghyuck had grinned at him and admitted that he liked fighting with Mark and had no intention of stopping.

For some reason, that sentence, whether it was Mark’s wishful thinking, or the way it was phrased or some underlying meaning that Donghyuck may or may not have meant to convey, made Mark’s heart race and his palms tingle.

That was when it started; Mark’s dilemma.

He seemed to have no control whatsoever over his physical reactions to Donghyuck and much less any semblance of control over his emotional responses. He’d find himself daydreaming about the other boy every night before sleeping. His dreams were another story, one he wished he couldn’t remember so vividly. But fictitious touches and soft imagined kisses lingered in his eyelashes every morning when he opened his eyes to his reality.

The last time Mark had engaged in a physical altercation with Hyuck was when his roommate’s laptop charger had stopped working and he’d claimed Mark’s as his own. When Mark had demanded that it was his, the other boy called him a liar. Then Mark had pointed out the small ‘M’ he’d written on it. Donghyuck then said that it was in fact a ‘W’ and it was him who had written it on his laptop charger. Mark had asked him what the ‘W’ stood for, Mark’s one consistent fault was his hungry interest in trying to figure out the way Donghyuck’s mind worked. Donghyuck had said that it stood for ‘Watermelons are overrated’ and taken the laptop charger from Mark’s hands.

Mark had lunged towards it and wrestled it out of Donghyuck’s grip. Donghyuck fought to get it back. Mark remembered how Donghyuck had hugged him from behind, his arms closing around Mark to get the charger out of his hands. When Mark wouldn’t budge, Donghyuck had blown into his right ear, which he reacted to by twisting away and tilting his neck to hide his ear in his shoulder. It was a mistake, because suddenly Donghyuck moved slightly behind him and Mark felt a hot wet line glide its way up the left side of his neck to the base of his left ear. When he realized that Hyuck had licked him, he should have been disgusted. Instead he shivered and felt heat collect in his stomach. He dropped the charger, fear gripping him. Donghyuck had taken it and it became their charger from that moment onward.

That was the first time Mark let Donghyuck beat him in a physical fight.

After that, his attraction caused him to slowly pull away from Donghyuck. At first it was little things like avoiding going out or watching movies with the other boy alone. Then he started to dodge Donghyuck’s touches like his life depended on it. A small accidental brush of the backs of their hands against each other would set his heart fluttering.

It was pathetic, but it was something he had to deal with. Alone.

Today was one of those days when Donghyuck seemed to go out of his way to torture Mark.

Mark was trying to grab a cup ramen from the shelf. It should have and would have been a simple task if Donghyuck wasn’t currently holding on to both of Mark’s arms. His fingers curled bracelets of fire around Mark’s forearms.

“You’ll ruin the last cup of ramen!” Donghyuck reasoned, his black shirt made his eyes look reflective, it made him all the more otherworldly and unattainable, which was saying something.

“Let go. It’s mine I can ruin it if I want to.” Mark said for the thousandth time.

“Make me.” Donghyuck said, suddenly leaning closer to Mark’s face. Mark supposed Donghyuck was challenging him to a fight. A few years ago he would have happily obliged. But Mark couldn’t fight Donghyuck anymore. He gasped and backed away slightly, trying to put more space between them. Donghyuck pulled him back, closer than before. Their noses were almost touching now, Mark could feel the warmth radiating off his body.

He could feel the blood rushing to his face as his heart hammered so he twisted around quickly, forgetting that Donghyuck still held his arms. He turned so fast and with so much force that he accidentally pulled Donghyuck along with him, tripping him in the process and they both ended up on the floor.

Mark used one of his forearms to protect his face before he hit the ground. He didn’t spare a moment as he looked up to check if Donghyuck had gotten hurt. The sight of Donghyuck scrambling off the floor set his heart at ease.

“I’m so sor—” He began but stopped because Donghyuck was holding up the cup ramen with glowing eyes. A second later he turned his attention away from Mark and onto the cup ramen.

“I saved you. You’re okay now. Don’t worry about the bad man I won’t let him touch you. You’re mine now.” Donghyuck all but cooed at the ramen.

Mark sighed in a defeated manner. He knew that he was absolutely fully capable of wresting the ramen cup out of Donghyuck’s grasp. But he didn’t think he was capable of controlling any embarrassing occurrences that may or may not arise if he tried, especially not with the way his body reacted to something so simple earlier, “You’re really just going to steal that, huh?” He asked.

Donghyuck’s eyes narrowed, “Steal?” he scoffed. “I saved it. I didn’t steal anything.” He went into the kitchen, leaving Mark staring after him like a fool.

Mark sighed again and he let his shoulders drop.

He was fine dealing with Donghyuck’s constant teasing so long as the other boy didn’t notice Mark’s little… what was it? Attraction? No, it was more than that… A crush, then?

Whatever it was, Mark’s number one priority was keeping it a secret. If Donghyuck knew, he would never let a moment pass without taunting Mark. That would be humiliation he was sure he could not bear.

Mark was hungry. Donghyuck had come to find him after he’d finished making the ramen and he’d even had the nerve of offering Mark half of what he called his ramen. Mark had, of course, agreed, if begrudgingly.

When they’d finished eating, Donghyuck started to go on about how generous he was.

He was sitting next to Mark. The empty bowl was on the table between them.

“Well?” Donghyuck said suddenly.

Mark just looked back with a questioning gaze.

“Aren’t you going to thank me?” Donghyuck smiled, tilting his face to the side and tapping against his own cheek twice, it was slightly red from the spices and Mark swallowed thickly.

It wasn’t anything; just Donghyuck’s normal teasing. It shouldn’t have gotten a reaction out of Mark. And yet he felt blood rush to his ears at the suggestive sparkle in Donghyuck’s eyes.

Donghyuck’s smile widened and his hand darted out to make a grab for Mark’s forearm to pull him towards him. Mark quickly moved his arm out of reach. Mark had had just about enough for today. So he got up and left him without a word.

It was pouring outside and even though it was only half past six, the sky was completely dark. The only splashes of color came in the form of deep purple venomous clouds full of dark intent.

Or maybe Mark was just reading too many horror novels these days. Regardless, the sound of Jaemin’s stomach rumbling was terrifying enough to move any sane person into action.

Mark sat up whereas he’d been slouching to relieve some of the pain in his own stomach a moment before. He noticed that he’d accidentally folded the corner of the page he’d been reading and he smoothed it with his thumb.

“I’m hungry.” Jaemin complained, throwing his head back so that it rested on the mountain of plush throw pillows on his bed and wrapping both his arms around his middle.

Mark was sitting on the carpeted floor of Jaemin’s bedroom; his legs were crossed underneath him as he forced his head to clear enough to read the next sentence, his own stomach squeezed in protest.

“Me too.” He admitted.

“Let’s go grab a bite.” Jaemin suggested.

“Do you hear that clattering outside? It’s pouring like crazy.”

Mark could feel Jaemin rolling his eyes even though he couldn’t see him. “Then let’s order something.”

“Someone could die delivering our food. Are you really willing to put someone’s life at risk when we could just go make something?”

“Yes, I am.” Jaemin answered.

“Okay then, I’m in.” Mark lay down on his side and closed his eyes.

A pillow was thrown on his head to wake him, but he just grabbed it and put it under his head, getting comfortable on the floor.

“Thanks.” He said to Jaemin.

“Go ask the guys if they’re hungry too, no one is answering me on the group chat.”

“They ignore our texts, they don’t get food. That’s how it works.” Mark said.

“You’re right...” Jaemin agreed in a low voice and he ordered.

The food arrived without any casualties, but Mark reminded Jaemin that the delivery guy still had to go back to the restaurant and the road was probably filled with slippery perils, to which Jaemin replied by stuffing Mark’s mouth full of fries.

When they’d finished eating, both letting out satisfied sighs, Ten’s head popped into the room briefly.

“I’ll never forgive either one of you for this betrayal.” With that he left.

Mark yelled after him “YOU IGNORED US ON THE GROUP CHAT!”

He was answered only by the crackling of thunder outside.

A moment later, Jungwoo came into the room. He regarded them quietly with a poker face. The sound of the raindrops picked up speed as they gave themselves up completely to gravity’s pull.

Mark felt a shiver run down his spine, “It’s still early… We could order you something.” He offered Jungwoo weakly.

“That’s alright,” Jungwoo answered coolly. “Ten is really pissed. You should be careful.” He added before leaving.

“Ugh,” Jaemin growled. “I knew this would happen. You should have just gone and asked them if they were hungry when I asked.”

“Why would I do that? I’m older than you, you should have been the one to go and ask.” Mark said calmly.

Jaemin pretended to be asleep even though Mark doubted it with how loudly the thunder roared outside.

Mark was right because a moment later Jaemin cracked one of his eyes open, crawling to the edge of the bed to look down at Mark, and whispered, “Mark?”

“Yeah?” Mark wasn’t sure Jaemin could hear him through the heavy fall of rain.

He did. “Can you throw the trash out on your way to your room?”

“I don’t want to go back to my room, Donghyuck will kill me!” Mark whined.

“Fine then throw the trash out and come back here.”

“You do it!”

“Do it, or I’ll call Donghyuck.”

“Fine!” Mark was too scared to leave the room and face anyone else’s wrath, but this was a sacrifice he was willing to make in order to avoid sleeping in his room tonight.

He picked up the trash they’d collected in the bag the delivery had arrived in and left the room quietly. The path to the kitchen was clear. Most of the lights were off. When he reached the kitchen door, he thought he heard a scuttling noise behind him and Ten’s angry face involuntarily flashed in his mind so he quickly opened the door, went in, and closed it behind him as quietly as he could.

His ragged breathing and the buzzing of the fridge filled the room for a few seconds. Then a fork of lightning flashed through the tiny window and the room lit up momentarily, giving Mark his sight back.

He wished it hadn’t, because what he saw shook him to the core. A spindly black figure was hunched in the corner by the fridge. Mark opened his mouth and screamed as loudly as he could. His shaking hand tried to reach for the door handle, but he couldn’t bring any of his muscles to cooperate.

When he ran out of breath, he realized that his scream wasn’t the only one that filled his ears. His hand missed a few times, but he eventually managed to flick the light switch by his head.

Jisung was curled on the floor, still screaming and clutching at his face in fear. He stopped screaming when he finally realized that it was just Mark before him, a shaking hand slipping downwards from his cheek to clutch at his chest.

Mark spoke, it was more yelling than speaking, but he liked to think of himself as a composed person, “WHY DIDN’T YOU TURN ON THE LIGHTS? AND WHY WERE YOU BEING SO QUIET?”

Jisung sighed and said, “The fridge lights up, I didn’t need them! And I could ask you the same questions.”

“I was trying to avoid Ten and Jungwoo.”

“Oh,” Jisung said. “Because you and Jaemin ordered dinner without asking any of us if we were hungry, too…”

“…Yeah.”

“Well, as you can see, I’m here looking for scraps in this empty fridge. I didn’t find anything by the way, if you care.”

Thunder growled loudly enough that Mark was spared from having to say anything in return.

“Goodnight, Mark.” Jisung said as he left the kitchen.

After throwing the trash, Mark went back to Jaemin’s room. Jaemin was fast asleep. Mark’s heart raced as lightning and thunder alternated so quickly they eventually clashed. He curled up on the floor again, taking calming breaths as he closed his eyes.

Mark woke up feeling strange. He didn’t know when he’d fallen asleep or when he’d gone back to his own bed.

He inwardly groaned, being careful not to make a sound so as to not wake Donghyuck. It was still dark outside.

He turned onto his right side and closed his eyes, burrowing his face deeper into his pillow.

The second time he opened his eyes, sunlight filled the room to the brim. He felt refreshed as he stretched his arms to both sides under the comforter. Confusion rose in him when he felt the weight of something above the covers move from his hand’s movement.

He blinked sleep away when he heard a small groan from somewhere in the room. It did not sound like Donghyuck. But the sound was familiar.

He sat up, something that only intensified his confusion. Because he wasn’t in his room.

He was still in Jaemin’s room. And the thing that he had accidentally pushed off of the bed was Ryan, Jaemin’s plushy. The groan he’d heard earlier was from the figure sleeping in the shadows on the ground.

“Jaemin?” He called. His voice sounded strange so he coughed to clear his throat. His cough sounded just as strange.

“Jaemin.” He said again. He sounded nothing like himself. Maybe he was sick?

He pulled the cover off of his body to wake Jaemin who had somehow ended up on the floor where he had slept last night.

When he moved closer to the sleeping figure, he knew it was not Jaemin. The person’s back looked extremely familiar. A tingling sensation crawled over his skin. He pinched his thigh to make sure he was awake.

He tapped the person twice on the shoulder and waited. The person groaned again, then spoke, “Ow, my neck hurts. Why am I on the floor? Did you do this, Mark?”

The person spoke with his voice, Mark’s voice. When he slowly sat up, massaging the back of his neck as he did, Mark saw that the person also had Mark’s face.

If his heart were not lodged in his throat, he would have screamed.

He fell on his ass, scrambling backwards on his hands until his back hit the mattress’ side, away from this other him.

“Am I hallucinating?” Mark demanded from this other him, whose eyes slid from his feet up to his face.

The other Mark’s eyes widened until they were almost cartoonishly round. His mouth followed, becoming a full O shape before the screeching came out. The other Mark scratched his nails down his own face as he screamed, Mark’s face. “THIS ISN’T MY FACE!” it yelled.

“WHY DO YOU LOOK EXACTLY LIKE ME?” The other Mark demanded. Then he crawled the distance between him and Mark and cupped Mark’s face, “GIVE ME MY BODY BACK PLEASE, I’LL SELL MY SOUL, I’LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING JUST GIVE ME MY BODY BACK!”

Mark was hyperventilating. What was the clone talking about? “You’re the one who looks like me!” Then a scarier realization dawned on Mark, “What did you do to Jaemin?” He demanded. “Did you eat him? GIVE ME MY FRIEND BACK!”

“I AM JAEMIN AND IF ANYONE ATE JAEMIN—FUCK, IF ANYONE ATE ME, IT’S YOU! GIVE ME MY FUCKING BODY BACK!”

“You’re… Jaemin?” Mark paused. He got up, ignoring Jaemin, who was pulling on his arm.

“Where are you taking me? Come back!” The clone, who may or may not really be Jaemin demanded as he followed Mark to the mirror.

Even though a part of him expected it, nothing could have prepared Mark for what he saw in the mirror.

Jaemin’s body followed his every move. Jaemin’s eyes met his in the mirror. Jaemin’s body was his body. Jaemin’s eyes were his eyes.

“Jaemin,” Mark said. Jaemin’s mouth moved in the shape of his words in the mirror, Jaemin’s voice came out when Mark spoke. “I think we swapped bodies.”

An hour had passed and they still couldn’t believe what was happening to them. They were sitting cross-legged and facing each other on Jaemin’s bed.

“So,” Jaemin, in Mark’s body tried reasoning for what seemed to be the hundredth time. “Somehow last night we switched bodies.”

“Yup.” Mark said for what felt like the thousandth time.

“And now we’re stuck like this for god knows how long…”

“Yup.”

“And we have no idea how or why this happened nor do we have a clue about how we could reverse it.”

“Yu—” Mark started.

“Don’t you dare say ‘yup’ Mark I swear I will strangle you!”

“Go ahead, I don’t care, this isn’t even my body.” Mark deadpanned.

Jaemin rolled his eyes. It was strange, because Jaemin looked exactly like Mark, he was Mark, and yet, when he rolled his eyes just know, it felt impossible that anyone would doubt that he was Jaemin. He should have known what had happened the moment the other boy moved, regardless of how impossible it was.

“We should talk about our relationship, that’s usually how these things get resolved in movies.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, we should tell each other what we don’t like about each other and resolve our issues.”

“But I don’t have a problem with you—”

“No, Mark,” Jaemin continued, raising his hand to stop Mark from speaking. “It’s like, normal things, for example, I think you take too long to tell a story and usually it’s not even interesting or worth telling and even if it were, the way you tell it makes it boring.”

Mark was sure that Jaemin’s words stung more than they normally would have because of the fact that they came from his own mouth. He pressed his lips together, he didn’t feel like saying anything at the moment. Hot tears slid down his cheeks, maybe this was happening to him because he hadn’t been to church in ages.

“Uh,” Jaemin said awkwardy. “Oh my god, I’m sorr—”

Mark didn’t need an apology, he needed to know how they would proceed from now. “It’s fine,” he said, it sounded more flippant in Jaemin’s voice. “I’m not crying because of what you said,” more tears slid down his cheeks. “I’m crying because of the fact that we switched bodies and don’t know how to fix it.”

When Jaemin didn’t say anything, Mark shared his theory about church, “I think I’m being punished for not going to church regularly.”

“Being in me is a blessing not a punishment.” Jaemin said, then at Mark’s expression he said, “Okay, I could have phrased that better.”

“What are we going to do now? Your thing obviously didn’t work.”

“I don’t think we—I mean I… I don’t think I did it right…”

Mark sighed, “At least we don’t have to work for the next few days.”

“Yeah… we can figure it out with a little time.”

“Should we tell someone?” Mark asked.

“Would anyone believe us?” Jaemin said.

They both sighed. Someone knocked on the door, making them both freeze.

“Wh—” Jaemin started, but Mark quickly grabbed his hand to stop him.

“It’s my room,” Mark whispered. “I mean your room, which means I should be the one answering.”

Jaemin nodded with a defeated frown on his face.

“Who is it?” Mark asked.

“It’s me.” Jeno’s voice announced from outside the room. And just like that he started pushing the door open. Jaemin looked at Mark, his face completely panicked.

“Hide!” Mark whisper-yelled.

Jaemin went into his own closet and closed the door after himself.

“Jaemin!” Jeno said, his voice soft in the way it got whenever he spoke to Jaemin. He sat on the bed next to Mark. “I’m hungry.” He said.

Mark narrowed his eyes, “And?” He heard a knock coming from the closet. Before Jeno turned around, Mark grabbed his hand to divert his attention.

“Let’s have breakfast together?” Jeno said.

Mark wanted to laugh. He knew Jeno was asking for Jaemin’s cooking. No one in their right mind would ever ask Mark to cook for them, not if they wanted to live. But he was Jaemin now and he supposed he had to start acting like it if they were to convince anyone they hadn’t gone mad.

“Uh,” Mark said, trying to think up an excuse. “I’m kind of not feeling well right now.”

Jeno draped himself over Mark, making him fall back against the mattress as he clung to him. “Come on.” Jeno begged. Mark pushed him away gently.

How did Jaemin normally deal with him? They should have talked about these things instead of trying to figure out what happened to them when they knew they couldn’t find the answer so easily.

“No.” Mark said, hoping he was doing well.

Jeno looked beyond disappointed. Mark supposed Jaemin rarely refused him. “Aren’t you hungry?” Jeno asked.

“No, I’m alright.”

“Well, okay.” Jeno said, getting up slowly. “I hope you feel better soon. Oh, and have you seen Mark?”

“Uhm… He left a few minutes ago…”

“Oh.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Donghyuck’s looking for him.”

Mark’s heart skipped a beat, “Ah.” He nodded.

When Jeno left, an angry Jaemin reemerged from the closet, his arms crossed, “Why did you do that?”

“I can’t cook!”

“But now he’ll definitely be suspicious, I’ve never done that before. We need to start acting like each other.” Jaemin said.

“How can I suddenly be an expert at cooking?”

“You can just cook badly and blame it on bad luck or something.”

“Fine.” Mark agreed.

“Okay, try to remember any instructions you might want to give me.” Jaemin said. “Here’s what I do every day. You should write this down.” He told Mark.

He did.

Mark was in the kitchen. Despite what he’d told Jeno earlier, he was, in fact, hungry. He scrambled himself a few eggs, miraculously burning them while they were still raw. He dropped the eggs onto a plate and grabbed a spoon, doing a little pre-eating celebratory dance as he made his way to the living room.

He almost dropped the plate when he saw himself talking to Donghyuck near the couch. Then he remembered what had happened. He kept at a distance and watched.

Donghyuck was watching Jaemin a little strangely, “You look different.” He remarked.

“What? Noooo.” Jaemin said in English. Mark wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

Donghyuck then grabbed Jaemin’s face and squeezed his cheeks between his thumb and forefinger, inspecting it.

Jaemin did nothing but watch him the whole time. He didn’t seem satisfied when he let go.

Donghyuck stole Jaemin’s (Mark’s) headphones straight out of his pocket and danced around him, teasing. Jaemin simply grabbed him and yanked them out of his hand. Donghyuck stood there, shocked as Jaemin walked towards the kitchen.

Mark ducked back inside, waiting for Jaemin.

Once he was in, Mark pulled him towards him and whispered, careful that their conversation not be overheard by Donghyuck, “Don’t treat him that way while you’re me.”

“What way?” Jaemin asked.

“The way you took those earphones from him, I wouldn’t normally do that.”

“He stole them, what was I supposed to do? Just let him?”

“Uh…”

“You would never let me get away with something like that. What’s your deal?”

“It’s just that…” Mark said. “It’s because it’s him.”

Jaemin gasped, “You like him… I knew it!”

“Please don’t tell him anything, just… Please just don’t treat him that way, he’ll get suspicious.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

“Promise you won’t tell him.”

“I promise.”

“Okay…” Mark relaxed. “You go first, I’ll follow in a minute.”

He tried to calm his heart as he walked towards Jaemin and Donghyuck slowly after spending a minute freaking out in the kitchen.

“Hey!” He tried to copy the intonation Jaemin used when he spoke, which was a simple task given the fact that he had Jaemin’s voice.

“Hello,” Donghyuck’s face lit up when he saw him. “Come join us we were just about to watch an episode of SpongeBob.”

Mark took a seat at the corner of the couch, forcing a smile as he hugged his knees to his chest after he’d gulped down his eggs. He watched Jaemin for any errors, but found none. He was acting normal, keeping a healthy distance from Donghyuck. He noticed a gigantic cup of coffee on the table in front of Jaemin.

“That’s a lot of coffee, Mark.” Hyuck commented.

“Uh,” Jaemin started, his eyes flitting to Mark’s imperceptibly. “Jaemin recommended I try it…”

Jaemin did a passable job until they joined Mark on the couch and Donghyuck grabbed Jaemin’s arm. Normally, Mark would have let him hold his arm for a few seconds then try to gently pull away. But Jaemin, having seemingly forgotten that he was in Mark’s body, held Donghyuck back. And now they were practically cuddling on the couch as the episode played.

Jaemin’s head, no, Mark’s head, was leaning on Donghyuck’s shoulder and Donghyuck’s arm hugged him close.

Something like anger but not quite flared up Mark’s chest. He swallowed, his mouth tasting bitter. He set his jaw and tried to think of a way to remind Jaemin of what the situation was. He watched them from the corner of his eye.

Donghyuck’s hand, which was around Jaemin’s shoulder, moved slowly upward. Mark watched with a mixture of fascination and jealousy twisting in his gut. He thought about kicking Jaemin so that he would snap out of it and remember to move away from Donghyuck, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it just yet.

He was amazed that Jaemin now occupied the same body which went into overdrive at the slightest of Donghyuck’s touches, but was completely unaffected.

Donghyuck’s fingers found their way into Jaemin’s hair. My hair. Mark thought desperately. He was stroking his hair so softly Mark swore a part of him could feel it as though he was still in his own body. He had heard of people suffering from phantom limb pain, but this was a whole new level of that.

His heart stopped when he noticed that Donghyuck wasn’t watching the episode either. Instead, he was watching Jaemin, he could see something not quite like fear, but close to it in his eyes.

That was when he finally did it; he kicked Jaemin’s leg as hard and as discreetly as he could.

Jaemin, who had been entranced by the episode snapped to attention. He extracted himself from Donghyuck’s hold and sat a bit closer to Mark.

Mark still watched Donghyuck. He could have sworn the other boy looked disappointed, although his mouth curved into the smallest pensive smile.

A few minutes later, when they were all paying attention and laughing at the appropriate parts, Donghyuck got up and squeezed himself between Mark and the couch in the nonexistent space on Mark’s left.

Now it was Mark’s turn to be mindful of his reaction. Donghyuck and Jaemin were always comfortable with skinship. He had no excuse to offer as Donghyuck half-laid on top of him.

Mark tried to focus on the episode as Hyuck’s warmth enveloped him. When the other boy’s hand nudged him a little forward to put his arm around him properly, he obliged, holding his breath the entire time. His other arm’s weight fell across Mark’s stomach as Donghyuck closed his fingers around Mark’s side.

Donghyuck’s heartbeat was steady where he felt it against his left shoulder. Mark prayed and prayed that Donghyuck couldn’t feel his own raging heart.

He knew his face was burning, but he could do nothing to stop it. He was glad that Donghyuck had his head resting against his shoulder; he hoped he would stay there until Mark calmed down.

After watching a couple of episodes in Donghyuck’s arms, Mark started to feel an overwhelming sense of longing mixed with loss. Their legs were tangled together. A bit of Donghyuck’s body was slightly under his, but Hyuck didn’t seem to mind. If anything, his arms tightened around Mark with every passing moment.

Donghyuck’s cheek felt soft where it pressed against the side of his neck. Mark relished in the tickle of Hyuck’s hair against his own cheek. His chin rested on Mark’s shoulder. Donghyuck smelled like home.

Mark felt a stinging sensation in his chest. He couldn’t fathom it, but for the second time today he felt the hot slide of fresh tears rolling down his cheeks.

He needed to stop before anyone noticed. He slipped his fingers into Donghyuck’s light brown hair, the same way he’d seen him do to Jaemin’s earlier. He took in one calming breath after the other, pacing his breathing in rhythm with the movement of his fingers through Hyuck’s locks.

The tears stopped and he discreetly wiped the tracks away with his other hand.

The couch dipped suddenly, making Mark slip slightly out of Donghyuck’s hold, which he deeply resented. He heard his own voice yell as Jaemin all but jumped out of his skin.

“Why didn’t anyone call me?” Renjun asked. Settling in the space between Mark and Jaemin.

“If it makes you feel any better Mark ordered food last night and didn’t tell anyone.” Donghyuck said. Mark could feel him twist around a little, leaning forward and away from Mark to watch Jaemin’s reaction to his words. For a moment, Mark had been confused, why was Donghyuck looking at Jaemin when he was talking about him? But he remembered quickly and moved out of Hyuck’s line of vision.

“I ordered food with him.” Jaemin said and Mark wanted to smack him for his absentmindedness. It seemed like he was going to have to attach a mirror in front of Jaemin’s face at all times to remind him that he was no longer himself.

Everyone froze for a moment.

Then Donghyuck said, “You’re like that meme of Beyoncé watching her own back.”

“What?” Mark asked, while Jaemin laughed.

They both realized they’d fucked up when Donghyuck and Renjun looked at each in confusion.

“Anyway,” Renjun said. “I don’t care about dinner last night, I care about SpongeBob.”

“Fine,” Donghyuck said. “Sorry. But it was Mark’s fault.”

It was a second too late, but Jaemin finally reacted appropriately, “How was it my fault?”

“Jaemin and I both told you to ask Renjun if he wanted to join us but you said and I quote, ‘No, I hate him.’” Donghyuck said.

“I DID NOT!” Jaemin yelled.

While Donghyuck and Jaemin argued back and forth, Jaemin for the most part did a good job of being Mark defending himself.

But then Jaemin held his own head and said, “What’s happening to me? Why am I shaking? My heart is beating so fast!”

“Take it easy on the coffee, maybe?” Donghyuck said in his most condescending tone.

Jaemin looked at his cup of coffee suspiciously.

Mark suddenly felt a nudge at his side. When he turned, he saw Renjun leaning in to whisper in his ear, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” He said.

Renjun nodded and sat back. But then he seemed to think better of it and leaned in again, “It’s just that, you look like you’d been crying… Jaemin if you need anything… You—” He paused, blinked a few times while looking away, then looked back into Mark’s eyes, “You know you could always talk to me, right?”

Mark felt like he was intruding. Like he was watching an intimate moment. But he couldn’t do anything except nod and smile a little at Renjun, who finally sat back and continued watching the episode.

A few minutes later, Jeno joined them, sitting between Renjun and Mark. Jisung and Chenle were nowhere to be found and neither were Ten and Jungwoo.

When Jeno complained about them not calling him the same way Renjun did, Donghyuck said it was Mark’s fault again. This time, Jaemin ignored him completely.

“I want to talk to you later.” Donghyuck suddenly whispered in Mark’s ear. His eyes looked sad again, which twisted Mark’s heart. He nodded, reaching down to hold his hand when he realized that in Jaemin’s body, he could.

He knew what he was doing was nothing short of masochistic. He was going to hate himself for it once he went back into his own body. But he couldn’t help it.

Jeno pulled Jaemin with him somewhere. Mark knew it was to talk to him about the verses Jeno wanted Mark’s opinion on.

Mark panicked. He remembered one of the instructions Jaemin had given him earlier, Don’t talk to Donghyuck alone. If he says he wants to talk to you, call me and I’ll distract him.

When he’d asked him what the big deal was, Jaemin simply told him it was a matter of privacy.

“Are you even watching?” Donghyuck asked Mark.

He wasn’t. “I am.”

“You barely laughed once.”

“I’ve seen these episodes before.”

“We’ve all seen them.” Donghyuck countered.

“Shut up, I’m trying to watch.” Renjun complained.

Donghyuck got up and held his hand out for Mark to join him.

“I want to keep watching,” Mark said. “This is my favorite episode.”

Donghyuck didn’t buy it. They were back in Jaemin’s room. Mark sat on the bed while Hyuck paced in front of him. He quickly texted Jaemin.

“Did you see what he did earlier?”

“Who?”

Donghyuck looked at him with narrowed eyes, “Who do you think?”

“Uh…”

Donghyuck cocked his head, “What’s going on with you today?”

“Nothing, I’m completely normal! Typical Jaemin behavior all the way!”

Donghyuck stared at him for a long moment. His heart rate picked up. Should he just tell him? No. He couldn’t now. Not after what he’d just allowed to happen.

Donghyuck eventually sighed, the tension leaving his shoulders as he sat next to Mark.

“He’s being so weird lately, I don’t know what to do anymore. It’s like he’d rather have all of his possessions stolen from him than to have me touch him, it’s messed up.”

Maybe Mark was oblivious, but he knew he could not be having this conversation with Donghyuck right now. Jaemin needed to hurry.

“Do you know what he said when I asked him why he didn’t sleep at our room last night?”

Now that was something Mark would like to hear. “What did he say?” He asked.

“He said ‘I was afraid of you. I’m a coward.’ What the fuck was that about?”

Mark clenched his jaw, Jaemin was officially on his shitlist, “Maybe we should talk about this later.”

“Why? Did he say something to you?”

“What? No!”

“Okay, answer this honestly, do I smell bad?”

Donghyuck all but put Mark’s face in his armpit and Mark flailed his arms and yelled, “NO! WHAT THE FUCK GET AWAY!”

“No I don’t smell bad or no as in get your armpit out of my face?” Hyuck asked with a serious expression.

“Both!”

“So I smell good?”

“You smell great.” Mark said, carefully moving Donghyuck’s body away from his. “What’s this about?”

Donghyuck quirked a brow, “Okay, who the fuck are you?”

“What?”

“When’s my birthday?”

“June 6^th.”

“When’s your birthday?”

“August 13^th.”

“Who was my first crush?”

“Uh.”

“Never mind, I never told you that. What’s the thing that bothered me last night?”

“Jaemin and I ordered food without telling you?” Mark caught his mistake and spoke before Donghyuck could say anything. “I meant Mark and I ordered food, ugh I’m so tired today.” He then fake yawned in hopes that Hyuck would get the message and leave.

“You’re not Jaemin.”

“Yes, I am.” Mark tried.

“How long have you not been Jaemin? I WAS HUGGING YOU 2 MINUTES AGO!”

“I was Jaemin until 2 minutes ago?” He compromised.

Donghyuck hissed, “I don’t know who you are or what you’ve done to my friend, but I will find out.”

With that, he left the room.

Mark fell back against the mattress. He had fucked up royally.

Mark spent hours worrying and wallowing in his misery. He needed to get back into his own body fast. He ran over the events of last night. They’d ordered American food, Ten had been angry, so had Jungwoo, although it was a bit difficult to tell.

What else had happened…

The door suddenly swung open. Jaemin rushed in, his eyes panicked.

“Donghyuck knows.” He said.

“Not about you, too!”

“We suck at being each other.” Jaemin said, flopping down on the bed next to Mark.

“How did he find out about you?”

“Something about a laptop charger? Apparently the ‘M’ on it was actually a ‘W’ and I didn’t know that or what it stood for so…”

“He’s so smart.” Mark said. Jaemin rolled his eyes.

“So does he know you’re you?” Jaemin asked.

“No, he just thinks I’m some evil spirit who did something to his friend.”

“I think he knew I was me. I’m not really sure though.”

“What are we going to do?” Mark asked.

Jaemin said the exact words Mark was afraid of hearing.

“We have to tell him.”

Mark closed his eyes and covered his face with his forearms. “This is the most humiliating experience of my life.”

“Even if we don’t tell him, he’ll find out anyway. Like you said, he’s smart.”

“So,” Mark tried. “We can put off telling him?”

Jaemin gave him a look.

“Like you said, he’ll figure it out on his own anyway. Let’s at least try to figure out how this happened to us first!”

“Fine.” Jaemin agreed.

They spent the better part of the next hour arguing over who had done this to them. Jaemin was sure it was the restaurant, while Mark argued it could only be Ten or Jungwoo.

“We’ve ordered from that same restaurant a million times, that’s never happened before.”

“But we’ve never ordered in the middle of a fucking storm, maybe the delivery guy died and his evil witch mother cast a spell on us!”

“Why does his mother have to be the witch?” Mark asked.

“Fine! His evil witch father, I don’t give a fuck, God!”

“Don’t use the lord’s name in vain.” Mark said, silently giving himself a pat on the back for already being a better Christian than he was yesterday.

Jaemin looked like he was about to kill him, but seeing as it was his own face he was looking at, he couldn’t bring himself to feel truly threatened.

“I’m tired.” Mark said, yawning for real this time.

“Me too.”

“Alright, you can take the floor, this is my room.” Mark said.

“Fuck that, I’m hanging out with Hyuck.” Jaemin said, getting up to leave.

“YOU CAN’T!” Mark yelled, but for the sake of his idea of himself being a composed person, he liked to think of it as loud talking.

“I’ve had enough of your face for one day.”

“This face?” Mark asked, pointing at his face, which was in fact Jaemin’s face.

“Oh, shut up, you know what I mean.” After briefly flipping Mark off, he left him alone.

Mark liked having a room to himself, but he couldn’t say he didn’t miss Donghyuck.

For tonight, he would take comfort in not having to deal with anyone, least of all himself, until morning came.

The next morning was a mess.

He woke up because the breath was all but knocked out of his chest as Jeno threw himself onto him. He was, once again, begging for breakfast.

Mark would feed him all right.

“Fine, fine.” He got out of bed, not bothering to so much as wash his face as he made his way into the kitchen.

“What is it that you want to eat?” He asked Jeno.

“The usual.” Jeno answered. Oh, for the sake of fuckery.

“Fine, the usual it is!”

Mark looked through the fridge, took anything that looked remotely good to him: A slice of cheese, a sausage, an egg, some leftover rice, a strange looking vegetable he’d never seen before, and threw it all together in a pan with what he deemed to be enough oil.

“Jaemin… What are you doing?” Jeno asked.

“Shhh, your food is almost ready.” Mark said.

Jisung walked into the kitchen and went straight for the fridge.

“Jisung,” Mark called, “Are you hungry? I’m cooking up a feast.”

“No, thanks.” Jisung said distractedly. “Has anyone seen a tree shaped white apple thing?”

“I think Jaemin is cooking it.” Jeno said.

“WHY WOULD YOU COOK THAT? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH IT COSTS?” Jisung hit his own head with his palm and left angrily.

“Teenagers.” Mark smiled at a very confused looking Jeno.

Jaemin came into the kitchen, probably having smelled the amazing meal Mark was cooking up.

“What in the world,” Jaemin said. “Jeno please don’t eat this, I’ll make you something in a second I just need to talk to Mark.”

“I’m Jaemin, Mark.” Mark said to Jaemin.

But Jaemin simply turned the fire off and pulled Mark along with him.

“I think Donghyuck can help us. But he won’t talk until we tell him everything.”

Mark squirmed. He knew his hands were tied, but he was just so damn scared. Darn, he corrected himself, Darn scared.

“O-okay.” He reluctantly agreed.

“He already knows I’m me, which means he probably knows you’re you. So let’s just tell him what he already knows so that we can get back into each others’ bodies.”

Before Mark could comment, Jaemin raised his palm, “I know, I know shitty phrasing. Let’s get this over with.”

And so they went to talk to Donghyuck.

Donghyuck was waiting for them in Jaemin’s room. He was sitting on the edge of Jaemin’s bed, leaning his elbows on his knees. They both stood before him.

Mark let Jaemin do the explaining. He was too embarrassed to even look at Donghyuck let alone talk to him. When Jaemin was done explaining, Donghyuck looked lost in thought.

“It’s neither Ten nor Jungwoo.” Donghyuck said.

“It’s the delivery guy’s evil witch mother, isn’t it?” Jaemin asked.

“Why can’t it be his witch father?” Donghyuck asked and Mark smiled a little to himself.

“Whichever it is, it’s the delivery guy right?”

“I think it’s Jisung.” Donghyuck concluded, clapping his hands once.

Both of them stood with their jaws hitting the floor.

“Jisung?” Mark asked, speaking for the first time.

“Cute little Jisung?” Jaemin added unnecessarily.

“I did see him in the kitchen that night, he said he was looking for food.” Mark supplied.

“Him and Chenle have been hanging out with Kun a lot lately.”

“Kun does magic tricks.” Jaemin deadpanned.

“Yes,” Donghyuck said. “And that was what sparked Jisung’s interest in Dark Magic. He talked to me about it, but I thought it was just a passing fancy, I didn’t think he would actually try a spell out.”

“Come to think of it, he did get really angry when I used that weirdly shaped vegetable to make Jeno’s breakfast earlier…” Mark said.

“You guys don’t think Jeno would actually eat that, right?” Jaemin asked.

“He might.” Donghyuck said unhelpfully.

“I have to go.” Jaemin ran out of the room.

Awkward silence filled the room. Mark felt the need to break it, “So… Should we go talk to Jisung?”

“When did the switch happen?” Mark grimaced. He was hoping to avoid this particular question.

“The night we ordered dinner without telling anyone.”

“Hm,” Donghyuck said. “You did a good job, pretending to be Jaemin… You did well.”

“Oh… um, thanks.”

Donghyuck pushed off the bed and approached him. He tried to plant his feet, but he took a few steps back involuntarily before holding himself still. Donghyuck’s hand reached for his face. He touched his cheek softly. Mark ducked away from the touch.

Donghyuck smiled, “I thought so.”

Mark was embarrassed; he didn’t know what to say. Donghyuck spoke again, “So what is it? What’s your problem?”

“I— Nothing I—”

“I know I don’t stink,” Donghyuck said, his eyes narrowed. “You were practically sniffing me when we were watching SpongeBob earlier, I thought Jaemin had turned into a dog.”

“I wasn’t sniffing!” His face burned.

Donghyuck grabbed him by the hip and sneakily took his phone out of his pocket. He held it up for Mark to see, “Aren’t you going to do anything? You don’t want this back?”

Mark stayed where he was, “Give me my phone back.” He said weakly.

Donghyuck placed Mark’s phone in his back pocket, “Come get it…” He waited a few beats. Mark leaned back against the wall, putting a foot of distance between him and the angry boy. “No?” Donghyuck continued. “Well, I guess it’s mine now.”

“Hyuck.”

“What is it?” Donghyuck closed the distance between them and Mark was trapped. “Why won’t you fight back?” Donghyuck flicked his nose. He flicked his nose.

“Ow!” Mark yelled. He rubbed his nose with his palm to soothe it.

Donghyuck then pulled his hair.

“Ow ow ow! stop it!” Donghyuck didn’t stop. In fact, it got worse. He pinched his side then pushed at his shoulders. Mark was losing patience.

He grabbed Hyuck by the shoulders, stilling him.

He was in his face now, his anger melting away as Donghyuck’s eyes bored into his own. He looked at his perfect heart shaped lips. He wanted nothing more than to lean in and—

“If you’re going to kiss me, at least let me turn the lights off.”

Mark was confused, “Why?”

“You look like Jaemin.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

As Mark tried to calm his ragged breathing, his eyes slid to the light switch not too far out of reach. Donghyuck rolled his eyes. He flicked the lights off and watched Mark carefully. Mark knew that he was being watched because he could still see Donghyuck. The expression on Hyuck's face was unsure.

“It doesn’t matter, you’d still be kissing me.” Mark reasoned.

“Come with me.” Donghyuck said after a moment of silence.

Mark didn’t know exactly what it was that Hyuck was doing, but it involved removing rows and rows of Jaemin’s clothes from his closet. He then grabbed Mark’s arm and took him into the closet, closing the door behind them.

“Why are we in a closet?” Mark whispered.

“Shh,” Donghyuck said. “Your voice is all-- Just don’t speak.”

Mark understood. So he waited. He heard Donghyuck swallow. He felt a little lightheaded, it was probably due to the lack of air in the closet, but it could also be an effect of Donghyuck being so close, of the knowledge of what they were about to do.

He felt for Donghyuck until caught his hands in the darkness and squeezed. The other boy seemed suddenly nervous, so he traced circles on the backs of his hands in what he hoped was a soothing way. Mark hated that he couldn’t see him.

Donghyuck slipped his hands out of Mark’s. Mark felt his warm fingertips slide along the planes of his face, Jaemin’s face, was it okay to be doing this in Jaemin’s body? Mark was so confused and Donghyuck seemed equally frustrated as he let out a breath and rested his forehead against Mark’s shoulder.

“I can’t do this.” He said.

“Me neither.” Mark admitted, the tightness in his chest loosening as he allowed himself to relax.

Donghyuck sighed again and opened the closet. Taking Mark’s hand to lead him out as well.

The door burst open.

“What the—” Mark heard his own voice say as the lights were switched back on. It was Jaemin with a sulky Jisung in tow.

“Please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did?”

“We didn’t, relax.” Donghyuck said.

“Are you sure, because it sure as hell doesn’t look like you didn’t.”

“I promise you nothing happened.” Mark said. Jaemin gave him a death stare.

“I found this little evil witch,” Jaemin said. Mark gasped. He’d never seen Jaemin genuinely angry with Jisung. “He admitted to everything.”

“I didn’t think it would actually work.” Jisung said.

“Can you reverse it?” Donghyuck asked.

“Yes, I just need to get a single hair from each of them to add to my cauldron.”

“A fucking cauldron…” Jaemin hissed.

“You would have thought this was cool if it wasn’t happening to you!” Jisung accused. Jaemin’s silence was nothing short of a confirmation.

Jisung took their hairs and went back to his room. Instructing them to go to sleep as early as they could, as the switch could only occur while they slept.

“Do we have to sleep in the same room?” Jaemin had asked.

“It doesn’t matter.” Jisung had answered before leaving.

“Alright then, let’s go.” Donghyuck said, pulling Mark with him.

“No,” Jaemin yelled. “No, you’re not taking me—him. Whatever. I don’t trust you two to keep your hands to yourselves. Mark is sleeping in my room.”

“Okay then, you come with me.” Donghyuck let go of Mark in favor of pulling Jaemin with him. The sight of Donghyuck with Jaemin in Mark’s body caused the flames of anger to rise up again.

“No,” Mark said in a reasonable volume. “I think we should sleep the same way we did when the switch happened, just in case. Jisung doesn’t really know what he’s doing, so he could be wrong.”

“Fine.” Donghyuck said, only stopping when he was at the door to smile at Mark before leaving.

“I can’t sleep, I’m so hungry and it’s so uncomfortable on the floor!” Jaemin complained.

“Maybe we should order something…”

“You’re right!” Jaemin sat up, looking at Mark. “Ugh you’re so smart, Jaemin.”

“Don’t do that, it’s too weird.”

“Whatever, go ask the rest of the guys if they want anything.”

“Why should I do it? You’re younger you go do it!”

“Um, right now, I’m pretty sure I’m older than you.” Jaemin said, giving Mark a shit eating grin with his own face.

Mark wanted to hit him, but he didn’t want to hurt himself, he knew he would be the one suffering the consequences tomorrow.

“I’ll text the group chat.” Mark said. Five minutes passed and he didn’t get a single reply.

“They ignore us, they don’t get food?” Jaemin asked.

Mark sighed, “Let’s just try to sleep.”

Mark tried to get comfortable, twisting around in the sheets. The room was completely quiet save for the slight pitter-patter of rain as it started to pour outside.

Mark tried to focus on the sound of the rainfall. He didn’t know how long it took, but the sound eventually lulled him to sleep.

Mark woke up on the floor. His bones ached from the uncomfortable position he’d slept it. He blinked sleep away for a second. Then he realized that it had happened. He was back in his own body.

He climbed onto the bed to tell Jaemin, who was smiling in his sleep.

When Jaemin woke up and saw that they were in their own bodies, he grabbed Mark and hugged him, then promptly threw him to the side to fawn over his reflection in the mirror instead.

Mark thought about what he wanted to do first. Donghyuck’s face popped into his mind. For some reason, his heart sank. He thought he would feel differently, but he found that he was still afraid.

“Um, I’m gonna go shower.” Mark said. He knew he was stalling for time, but he needed to be prepared.

“Okay.” Jaemin said. He was playing with his own hair, making eyes at himself.

Before Mark reached the door, though, Jaemin turned towards him and said, “Mark? Just a piece of advice, if you want it…”

Mark waited, making sure to keep his expression open.

“Having to be you for a day was the most tragic thing that ever happened to me.”

Mark was about to leave again, but then Jaemin said, “Wait, wait. I’m not done. It was tragic because you’re loved by everyone but you choose to inhibit yourself. It’s such a waste. That’s all.”

“Let’s get it.” Mark said and smiled at Jaemin, who forced a smile back.

When Mark was dressed after his shower, he went into the living room. It was a full house and everyone had bowls of different kinds of food in front of them. Ten was having an intense conversation with Jisung and Chenle. Mark thought he heard him ask about how much it would cost him if he wanted Jisung to make someone go bald for a day.

“We’ll have to think it over and get back to you.” Chenle answered, all business.

Jungwoo was with Renjun and Jeno. They all had their eyes closed and a deck of cards in front of them. It looked like everyone was getting into magic these days. Finally his eyes found their target.

“Yes, the food was great. No, it was no problem. I was happy to take the survey.” He heard Donghyuck say into his phone monotonously.

Jaemin approached Mark, handing him a bowl of rice and putting his arm around his conspiratorially, “Ten thinks he’s hilarious. He ordered everyone food, but didn’t get you or me a single thing.”

Mark wasn’t really listening. He was busy thinking of a way to get Donghyuck alone.

Donghyuck ended the phone call and made his way towards the living room, where everyone was gathered. Jaemin was now yelling at Jisung and Chenle was laughing his Dolphin laugh. A sound that had become rare recently as his voice deepened.

Mark watched as Donghyuck addressed Jisung, “So is there a spell that can help me stop someone from staring and make him get his ass over here?”

Then his eyes met Mark’s and Mark smiled.

They were all watching a movie. Mark supposed it was scary, because the lights were off and Ten was screaming and clutching at Chenle. Jisung, on Chenle’s other side was quiet, but seemed even more terrified than Ten was. Jungwoo and Jeno were laughing at Ten. Jaemin was watching Renjun watch the movie.

But Mark was mainly focused on Donghyuck’s hand intertwined in his. Donghyuck was engrossed in the film, but his fingers absentmindedly played with Mark’s hand.

Mark leaned into him, taking comfort in his ministrations.

Mark’s stomach grumbled, stealing Hyuck’s attention from the film.

“Did Ten really not get you guys anything?” Donghyuck whispered in his ear.

“Jaemin said it was actually your idea.” Jaemin had said nothing of the sort, but Mark was sure he was right. He had seen Donghyuck talking to the restaurant earlier after all.

Donghyuck smiled.

He was smirking down at Mark in a way that made him a little self-conscious. It was difficult to keep eye contact, but he had promised Jaemin he’d stop being a coward.

Then Hyuck put his hands around Mark’s neck and Mark completely forgot about his surroundings. He was about to lean closer but then something moved against his neck and Donghyuck got up.

He wanted to complain about being abandoned so suddenly, when he saw what Donghyuck had done.

He reached for his neck, where he’d clasped a necklace after his shower. It was gone.

Donghyuck held it up for him to see. It glinted in the blue light of the television.

“Mine.” Donghyuck mouthed and he left Mark behind.

Mark wasn’t going to let Donghyuck take anything from him without a fight anymore, so he followed him.

“I think you have something of mine.” He said, closing the door behind him.

Donghyuck was sitting on his bed. Mark’s necklace sat against his neck.

Mark thought it looked better on Donghyuck, but this was about proving a point. So he stood in front of Donghyuck and held out his hand, palm waiting.

“Get it yourself.” Hyuck said, leaning back to look up at Mark, with a smile that could only be described as playful.

Mark’s heart skipped then hammered. He was going to be brave.

With shaking hands he reached for the necklace.

He didn’t know exactly how it happened, but he completely lost his footing when Donghyuck grabbed him and switched their positions.

Mark was now sitting on the bed, dumbstruck and speechless. He heard Donghyuck chuckle.

He got up, completely miscalculating the distance between them because he was now nose to nose with Donghyuck.

He was trying to do something, but he couldn’t remember what it was as he stared into Donghyuck’s dark eyes.

Hyuck wasn’t laughing anymore.

“Mine.” He whispered, taking Mark’s hands and placing them around his neck.

Mark felt himself nod a couple of times. He felt entranced, dazed.

There wasn't a single thing he could do to fight the way his body naturally moved towards Donghyuck.

Mark kissed him, his eyes shut tightly against the onslaught of emotions that hit him as his lips moved achingly slowly against Hyuck’s.

Donghyuck’s fingers carded through his hair, massaging his scalp as he kissed him back. Somewhere through the fog in his brain, Mark knew that it was Hyuck's version of an apology for pulling Mark's hair the night before. And even though that had technically been Jaemin's hair, Mark still sighed happily. Donghyuck smiled into the kiss, which made Mark smile in turn. They pressed their foreheads together, breathing each other in for a moment.

Donghyuck pulled away slightly. When Mark opened his eyes, he found Donghyuck looking at his face. Once again, Mark had to fight the urge to look away. When Donghyuck kissed his nose, he felt like his face was on fire. He tried to shy away, to cover his face, but Donghyuck held his chin, stilling his face to press a soft kiss to his burning cheek.

Then he grabbed his waist and pulled him in for another kiss. Mark felt braver with each kiss. He ran his thumb back and forth across Hyuck’s cheek, then slid it along his jaw, hoping to send a silent plea as he lightly pressed his thumb against Donghyuck's chin.

Donghyuck understood, he relaxed his jaw, allowing Mark’s tongue to slide into the heat of his mouth. Mark let out a strangled moan. He was sweating, but Donghyuck didn’t seem to mind as he grabbed the back of Mark’s head, changing the angle of their kiss as he licked the roof of Mark’s mouth. Mark’s fingers pressed Donghyuck’s hips urgently, pulling him closer still.

Eventually they had to break apart for air and after a few minutes of panting and stunned silence, Mark’s head finally cleared.

“I’m taking that back.” He said, going for the necklace. His voice sounded a little strained.

“No! It’s mine.” Hyuck twisted around, sounding just as breathless as Mark felt. Mark tried to hold him still, but it was useless.

Mark got an idea.

“YOU ASSTURD!” Donghyuck yelled when Mark had successfully taken his necklace back, his face an impossibly bright shade of red and his eyes wide.

Mark doubled over with laughter at Donghyuck’s expression as he wiped at his neck where Mark had licked him a few seconds before. It had served as a great distraction as he extracted the necklace smoothly.

“I learned from the best.” Mark smirked and Donghyuck narrowed his eyes before smiling and advancing slowly.

He pushed a giggling Mark down on the bed again.

Mark threw the necklace aside and locked his arms around Donghyuck’s neck instead.